The invention relates to kitchen appliances used to dry vegetables and the like by means of a rotating strainer. Some examples of devices of this type are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,885,321 and 3,753,297 and in a brochure of Ronco, Inc. respecting a device which is believed to have been on sale in this country at least as early as 1976. Additional devices which relate to rotating strainers are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. D-229,271; 3,200,737; 2,138,334 and 1,000,491 and in French Patent No. 742,028.
It is desirable that hand-operated kitchen appliances of this type be inexpensive, durable and easy to operate, and this invention is directed to an appliance of this type. In particular, the appliance which embodies the invention is made solely of parts made of inexpensive molded plastic material which can be inexpensively assembled by hand through snap-in connections. Operation of the appliance is facilitated by minimizing the thickness of the arrangement for driving the strainer (and therefore optimizing the useful capacity of the strainer) and through providng for easy disassembly and cleaning of the appliance.
The appliance includes an open-top strainer which is loaded with the vegetables to be dried. The strainer is perforated at the bottom and sides to permit water to drain by gravity and by centrifugal forces. It is within a bowl which supports it for rotation about a vertical axis. The strainer has a cover which is also perforated and fits frictionally at its open top and can be easily lifted from it by hand. The bowl has a cover which closes its open top and thereby encloses the strainer and the strainer cover in a substantially water-tight fit. A pair of latches at the side of the bowl automatically latch onto the cover when it is in place so as to make it possible to lift the entire appliance by the cover. The strainer is rotated about the vertical axis through a driving arrangement which is supported by the bowl cover and has a driving pin fitting a suitably shaped keyhole in the strainer cover. The driving arrangement includes a turning cover at the center of the bowl cover. The turning cover has an offset crank handle and is affixed to a planetary gear which drives through an idler gear, a driven gear affixed to the driving pin. The three gears are in the same plane so as to minimize the vertical dimension of the driving arrangement and therefore maximize the useful capacity of the strainer.